In partnership with Google Cloud, VMware and Pivotal have launched the Pivotal Container Service (PKS), a new offering that simplifies the process for deploying containers on VMware vSphere. The service, announced Tuesday at the 2017 VMworld conference in Las Vegas, will also offer compatibility for Google Container Engine (GKE), according to a press release.

Essentially, PKS is a new Kubernetes distribution built on Kubo, an open source container platform. Kubo, born out of a partnership between Pivotal and Google Cloud Platform, is powered by BOSH and provides high availability, automation, and additional tools.

BOSH-powered Kubo can run in the public cloud or in a traditional data center, which plays into the on-premises aspect of PKS. VMware NSX-T integration is also a part of PKS, adding security and connectivity, the release said. PKS is basically a hardened, commercial deployment of Kubo.

With all the focus on availability, security, and multi-tenancy, it's clear that PKS is made for serious enterprise container deployments. Specifically, the release said, the target audience is the Fortune 2000.

"The product will increase operational efficiency and developer productivity by offering a fully supported Kubernetes distribution with hardened, production-grade capabilities to enable enterprises to operate their traditional and cloud-native applications at startup speed as well as dramatically expedite time to market," the release said.

As part of the announcement, VMware will also be contributing resources to Project Kubo to help further build out the open source project and better enable Kubernetes to be deployed among enterprises and cloud service providers, the release said.

For a better understanding of how PKS fits into VMware's SDDC portfolio, see the below image:

Image: VMware

The 3 big takeaways for TechRepublic readers

Google Cloud, VMware, and Pivotal have launched the Pivotal Container Service (PKS), a new offering that makes it easier to deploy Kubernetes containers on vSphere.

PKS is a commercial distribution of the open source Project Kubo and brings additional security with rolling updates and NSX integration.

The new container service is highly available and is targeted toward enterprises in the Fortune 2000 and cloud service providers.

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